Museum Joins ‘Smithsonian’ For National Museum Day

The Sam Houston Memorial Museum will open its doors to visitors on Saturday (Sept. 29), making “cultural education accessible to everyone” by allowing them to explore the museum for free as part of National Museum Day.

In order to participate in the nationwide event, established as a Smithsonian Institution initiative, participants download a Museum Day Live! ticket at Smithsonian.com/museumday or Smithsonianmag.com/museumday, where they can receive free museum access to more than 1,400 participating venues, including the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, for two people. One ticket is permitted per household, per email address.

“It’s a very simple process to get your ticket,” said Sam Houston Memorial Museum marketing coordinator Megan Buro. “Once you go to the Museum Day website, click on the ‘Ticket Information’ tab, fill out the contact information, and choose the museum you wish to visit (TX-Sam Houston Memorial Museum).

“Your ticket is emailed to you, and then you just print it and bring it to the museum on Sept. 29,” she said. “One ticket is good for two people only. A ticket is a must to receive free admission on this particular day.”

This is the second year SHSU’s museum has participated in Museum Day, and a few people did take advantage of the free admission last year, according to Buro.

“I would encourage people to take advantage of this opportunity,” Buro said. “First, who doesn’t like getting in free somewhere? Second, the Sam Houston Memorial Museum is a special place. Visitors are getting to walk the same grounds Sam Houston walked on, and the chance to learn not only about the general but also about the Houston family and Texas’ fight for independence. We have lots of cool treasures!”

Among these treasures are exhibits through which visitors can learn about who the general was and his life journey, as well as a permanent exhibit called “The Road to San Jacinto,” which was added in April 2011.

“This exhibit includes artifacts from Bernardo Plantation, located in Hempstead, where Gen. Houston’s army camped at before heading to San Jacinto, as well as artifacts from the San Jacinto battlefield,” Buro said. “There are many more treasures in the rotunda including Santa Anna’s saddle during the San Jacinto campaign, Sam’s hickory cane and Stetson hat, the Bible of Sam Jr. (Sam and Margaret’s oldest child) that saved his life during the Civil War, the original headstone that was placed on the general’s grave at Oakwood Cemetery, and much more.

“In addition to the artifacts, when visitors go out onto the grounds, they can visit the historic Woodland Home where the Houston’s raised their family, check out Sam’s law office, and stop by the Steamboat House, in which Sam died in 1863,” she said.

More than 1,400 venues are participating for the eighth annual Museum Day Live, which drew over 350,000 museumgoers last year.